Kevin Smith’s CHASING AMY
was arguably one of the more daring, original, and inventive romantic
dramadies of the 1990’s. It was a success not so much for how it utilized the conventions of the genre in question, but rather by how it
turned them all upside down on their heads. There have been desperate love
triangles in the movies before, but none quite as atypical as the one
presented in Smith’s 1997 film.

Not only does it deal
with one man falling in love with the woman of his dreams that turns out to
be a lesbian, but he then has his love reciprocated back not only from her,
but from his own roommate and friend for life, whom may or may not be
gay himself. This trio would have been Dr. Phil’s clinical wet dream.

Now, this small build up
to Smith’s third film is not to belittle it such a fashion to make it come
across as contrived and formulaic. CHASING AMY – despite its highly
irregular storyline – is a sharply and eloquently written drama and comedy
that kind of defies all of those other witless and imbecilic romances that
permeated both the 90’s and our current decade. Too many other similar
films have the obligatory meet cutes of the two future lovers and
then some obstacle that impedes their journey towards lifelong love. All in
all, the trials and tribulations of other cinematic couples are small
potatoes to the emotional problems that beset CHASING AMY’S couple.

Their main problem is
sexual orientation. The man loves the woman – despite her overt
homosexuality – and the woman grows to love the man – despite his
heterosexuality – but these inherent differences don’t lean towards one
of those routine, nicely wrapped-up endings where everyone lives happily
ever after. Smith’s film keenly understands that life does not so neatly
work out for the better for all participants. Love is a complicated
beast that oftentimes can't be tamed.

I guess it was a bit of
reluctance that I sat through CHASING AMY during my first viewing of it on
home video back in 1997. Smith’s filmmaking resume was a bit uneven leading
into it. He was already a fan favourite of mine after making a gigantic
splash with his ultra-low budget, grainy black and white ode to slackerdom,CLERKS (1994), which
took scatological shenanigans to whole new heights of hilarity. The
wonderful aspect of that film was the very presence of Smith on the written
page. The dialogue was remarkably coarse and vulgar, but the characters
engaged in interesting and intriguing conversations that did not shy away
from frankness, or a hard-R rating. No subject matter was deemed
inappropriatefor the lazy convenience store workers of that film.
Discussions ranged from whether or not innocent contract laborers were
killed when the Death Star blew up in STAR WARS or whether or not one
clerk’s girlfriend actually performed one intimate sexual act on 37 men.

Of course, those that
have such an auspicious filmmaking debut always seem to have a difficult
time achieving sophomoric glory, and Smith was no exception. Lured in by a
much larger budget (several million dollars instead of CLERK’s paltry
$30,000) and by a big studio and larger cast, Smith made MALLRATS in 1995,
an oftentimes amusing - but largely forgettable - second film that failed to
generate critical or box office accolades. Yes, some of the characters from
his first film where present (namely Smith’s Silent Bob and his drug dealing
buddy Jason, played with zombified cluelessness by Jason Mewes), as well as
the setting (this was the second film in Smith’s self-anointed View-Askewniverse
series of films set in Jersey, his hometown Garden State). The jokes and
pop-cultured laced dialogue were there. Yet, the flavor was all wrong
andSmith later acknowledged this in many later interviews.
“They (Universal Studios) wanted us to make a smart PORKY'S,” said
Smith in one DVD documentary. That alone kind of reflected the future doom
of the production.

Once you have fallen so
greatly, the only possible way to go is up, and Smith understood this
in the wake of MALLRATS' unmitigated failure. Realizing that he no longer
could afford to alienate his small - but religiously loyal - fan base
that his first film created, Smith knew that he would need something special
out of the gate for this third film in his Askewniverse series. Finding
inspiration in his feelings of inadequacy in his own love and social
life, he wrote CHASING AMY as a form of catharsis (the script, by Smith’s
own admission, was largely inspired by his own relationship with
then-girlfriend Joey Lauren Adams, who would also star in the film as its
female lead).

Like his previous two
films, CHASING AMY felt familiar based on its New Jersey locales,
characters, and in the themes and dialogue. The sheer difference with this
effort was in the range and dynamic of the relationships and emotions in the
film. The characters now felt more real and well rounded and the events in
the film seemed to have more dramatic relevance. This was a Smith film that
was more mature, articulate, and literate. When he finally pitched it to
Miramax and said he wanted his own three choices of actors for the leads
(the then unknown Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, and Adams), the studio responded
by saying that they wanted more commercial actors, like John Stewart, David
Schwimmer, and Drew Barrymore. Ouch!

Being a shrewd
businessman, Smith knew that he would have to take a huge budgetary cut to
the film in order to have his dream cast. The studio was to originally give
the young director $3 million to make the film with their actor input, but
Smith was able to negotiate down to a quarter of a million (1/20th of
MALLRATS’ budget) to secure the rights to make the film with whomever he
wanted. Miramax saw this as an obvious steal of a deal and granted Smith
his wish. History would prove Smith to be the smarter of the two for his
casting decisions. Affleck alone gave his best performance of his career,
Lee’s work acted as a catalyst for his own successful career on TV, and
Adams alone was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work as the trouble
female love interest.

The film begins with two
hetero-lifemates named Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck, who has never been
better) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee, at his foul-mouthed, side-splitting
best) who are successful comic book creators. Their most recent effort,
BLUNTMAN AND CHRONIC, is a huge best seller with a possible cartoon and
movie deal in the works. As the film opens they work a comic convention and
– at least to some people – they are big celebs. They have lives that kids
kind of dream of: Video games, comic books, and consequence- free bachelor
living. In short, life is fantastic for the two and things could never be
better.

And then comes Alyssa
Jones.

Jones (Joey Lauren Adams,
in a star making performance) shows up during a one of the comic cons to
promote her more female-targeted book, IDIOSYNCRATIC ROUTINE. She is a
member of a panel during a conference where another militant black comic
artist named Hooper (the hilarious Dwight Ewell) discusses his book, WHITE
HATING COON. He pontificates on how white society enslaves the black
community in one of the film’s funny high points, as is his highly unique
dissertation on the symbolism of the STAR WARS TRILOGY (a staple element of
Smithian dialogue). “You got cracker farm boy Luke Skywalker," he explains,
“Nazi poster boy, blond hair, blue eyes. And then you got Darth Vader, the
blackest brother in the galaxy, Nubian god! And then Vader's beautiful
black visage is sullied when he pulls off his mask to reveal a feeble,
crusty, old white man! They tryin' to tell us that deep inside we all wants
to be white!” After a brief bout of theatrics, and when the conference room
clears, the angry and white hating Hooper turns out to be friends of Banky
and Holden…not to mention a puppy dog of a gay man.

It is through Hooper that
Holden meets Alyssa. He is instantly smitten by her girl-next-door good
looks and by her innate likeability. Banky senses something suspicious
about her, but he just can’t put his finger on it. Holden soon makes it his
mission to woe the woman. During a night of dart playing and drinks Holden
and Alyssa seem to really hit it off. He later confesses to Banky that he
feels the two had a connection and “shared” an emotional moment that could
speak positively to a bright future. Banky is not so sure. Holden is later
invited to another night out and hopes to hook up with her…. that is until
he finds out the worst thing that any man pining for the affection of a lady
could:

Alyssa is gay!

Holden is shocked, but
Banky seems to take it all rather humorously (“Since you like chicks,” he
asks her, “do you just look at yourself naked in the mirror all the
time?”). Holden finds it increasingly difficult to carry on for the rest of
the evening and then leaves. Days later Alyssa shows up unannounced at his
doorstep and invites him out for a walk. The two then discuss their mutual
feelings about Alyssa’s reveal of her homosexuality, and Smith’s dialogue is
brilliant in its execution, spontaneity, and simplicity of tone. Holden
precisely asks the questions any man in his position would and Alyssa
kindly and frankly answers them. “So, you’ve never been curious about men,”
she politely asks the inquisitive Holden, to which he dryly responds, “Well,
I always wondered why my father watched 'Hee Haw'.”

Alyssa offers Holden
platonic friendship, and he amazingly agrees that it would be okay,
despite his hidden feelings for her. You see, the more Holden spends with
Alyssa the more he begins to fall for her. They begin to have a nice,
easy-going chemistry that would normally lead any two people down the path
to romantic love. Yet…Alyssa is gay, a point that the very nervous
and frustrated Banky keeps trying to point out to his buddy. Holden takes
his friend’s concerns with a grain a salt, but deep down he is deeply in
love with this woman.

One night he snaps and
can take no more, and in one of the cinema’s all-time great declaration’s of
love and admiration, he confesses every single one of his hidden feelings
that he has for her in the single best scene Smith has penned. “You
are the epitome of everything I have ever looked for in another human
being…. there isn't another soul on this fucking planet who has ever made me
half the person I am when I'm with you…. please know that I'm forever
changed because of who you are and what you've meant to me.” It is a strong
testament to Smith the writer that he can write male characters with so much
compassion and vulnerability.

Incredibly, Alyssa responds by sleeping with
him, perhaps because she was so emotionally moved by his feelings. Maybe no
other person – straight or gay – has ever confessed to caring so
much. Unfortunately, just as their real relationship begins to blossom,
they hit some real setbacks. They come in the form of Alyssa’s
promiscuous sexual proclivities of the past that Holden has a hard time
dealing with and the fact that…hmmmm…Banky has his own…shall we say…internalized
issues with seeing his best friend leave him.

Perhaps more than just
about any other film in his career (with the exception of his unfairly
chastised JERSEY GIRL
from 2004) CHASING AMY manages to be about something. The first
CLERKS film dealt with the laziness of twentysomething youth and its sequel
dealt with the crisis that develops when one moves into their 30’s.
Other Smith efforts like DOGMA had some obvious spiritual significance,
despite its often lowbrow comedy. Yet, AMY perhaps represents Smith’s best
hour as a writer of convincing characters and he never lets them comes
across on a false note.

Characters voice their
feelings without censoring themselves for a moment, and the romance and
relationship between the Holden and Alyssa is nuanced, subtle, and patient.
There is not one subtle subtext of cliché to their love. Everything is
handled with tact and economy. Smith himself has come under fire by the gay
community for what they claim is his stance on how any woman – given the
right set of circumstances – would go back to being straight if the "right"
man helped. They entirely miss the point. CHASING AMY is not about
that at all. It wisely understand the emotional uncertain that permeates
relationships and a fear of coming to grips with one’s sexual identity.
Love, in a way, can transcend gender.

Aside from Smith’s
effortless and masterful handling of the love story, he still commands the
screen with his irreverent and funny dialogue. The emotional gambit that
the film covers is remarkably varied. At times, the conversations are lewd
and crude, as is the case when Banky and Hooper argue whether or not Archie
and Jughead were closeted gays and how exactly does one define “losing your
virginity” if it sex involves two woman. There is yet another funny - and
insightful - moment where Alyssa matter-of-factly reveals to Holden how two
woman can achieve vaginal intercourse without the use of male organs.
A scene where Banky and Alyssa reveal to each other old “sex war wounds”
from previous encounters is a real howler. It curiously echoes a very
similar scene involving Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw in
JAWS (one of Smith’s
favourite films) where the two exchange shark wound tales.

CHASING AMY, like CLERKS,
deservedly received its R-rating, which in a way is a blessing because the
characters are able to express themselves freely. Even when Smith is
letting his characters fire off zingers left and right, he still manages to
let the screenplay level out with moments of sincerity and honesty, as is
the case with a incredible final scene where Banky, Holden, and Alyssa all
gather to openly discuss their mutual feelings with one another. As the
film grinds to a close you grow to realize that it has become something much
deeper and profound. The film begins as lightweight comedy, slowly develops
into a romance, and then dives into weighty issues of love and sacrifice.
No other Smith film has so confidently covered such varied ground.

CHASING AMY also befitted
from some spot-on performances by its leads. Affleck, who has let his
recent personal life cloud over his skills as an actor, gives one of his
best, most layered performances as Holden. Alongside more recent work, like
his Oscar worthy turn in the under-appreciated HOLLYWOODLAND and his work as a widowed
husband in JERSEY GIRL, Affleck is able to command such a level of
sensitivity and poignancy with his work, and he develops such a effortless
chemistry with Adams. The performance high point of the film would most
certainly be Adams and she does not allow for Alyssa to get bogged down into
stereotype. This was one of the first films that I recall seeing where the
lesbian characters were not deviants or ice-pick wielding sociopaths, but
characters with feelings, ambitions, hidden pains, and uncertainties about
themselves and the world. Adams was so effective in her tricky role that
how an Oscar nomination eluded her escapes me to this day.

Kevin Smith’s CHASING AMY
– ten years after its initial release – still emerges as one of the more
touching, funny, and unique romantic dramadies of the last decade. By
efficiently combining his trademark acid-tongued dialogue with
characteristic pop culture references alongside rich and wonderfully drawn
characters, Smith was able to follow up the inane MALLRATS with a film of
both comedic and dramatic weight. Its story of a straight man that falls
for a gay woman is handled with such care and eloquence that showcases how
strongly Smith had his finger on the pulse of his personas. CHASING AMY is
funny, sweet, and touching, but its also equal parts smart and original. It
helped Smith emerge from the disaster that was MALLRATS and back into the
status of Indy scribe-sensation. After watching the film you get the
overwhelming sense that Smith really cared about his audience, and he
even managed to deal with his critics of his last abortive effort. In the
closing end credits for AMY he wrote, “And to all the critics who hated our
last flick -- all is forgiven."